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December 9
Stephanie Cox
December 8
11
December 8
Psalm 85, Verse 13:
“Righteousness will go before Him and will make His footsteps into a way.”
During the Advent season it is easy to struggle. Struggle with all the things to do during a holiday season, and all the people that need your care and your time. Struggle with remembering holiday seasons past and forgetting the less-than-good ones. Struggle with feelings that you do not care for the season of Advent as you should. It is easy to struggle.
The Advent season should be a time of looking forward, of thankfulness, and of light. Instead, we often make it about ourselves, selfishly comparing ourselves to others or wearing our feelings on our sleeve for all to see and injure.
Psalm 85 has a way to lessen the struggle. God’s righteousness - His grace, mercy, and love - goes before you continually. When you feel that no one has your back, or the things you have accomplished are not enough, He has grace for you: especially designed just for you.
And He gives us a path forward, because He promises: He will make His footsteps into a way. The clear path is to follow the Christ Child during this season, follow His sacrifice and His love for others, His goodness and His mercy.
It may be odd to consider the Psalms during the Advent season. But our God has given us this Holy Scripture to use - in its entirety - all year long. The Psalms are there for us every day, for every season, and for every opportunity to help us with the struggle.
December 7
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December 7
This psalm reflects the traditional Advent theme of hope and suggests how Advent connects us all. The psalmist’s buoyant expectation of good things to come rests upon the connection of his community with the past, their solidarity in the present, and their common dependence upon their covenant God for a brighter future. In vv. 1-3 the psalmist looks back and ponders God’s former favor and forgiveness, when the Jewish people were restored from exile. This identification with the people of God in the past forms the basis for his appeals in the present. In vv. 4-7, the psalmist pleads on behalf of his people for restoration and a fresh manifestation of God’s saving help, voicing their collective dismay at their dire circumstances in three anguished questions. In v. 8 the psalmist announces that God will speak peace to his people, “shalom,” a word of well-being and wholeness. In vv. 9-13 he elaborates on this notion. He invokes the LORD’s attributes of steadfast love and covenant faithfulness as guarantors of hope. He envisions a harvest of faithfulness springing up under the beneficent rays of righteousness. He awaits God’s good gifts and looks forward to abundance. This hope is not simply personal, but corporate; it connects the people of God as they watch and wait.
Our circumstances differ from those of the ancient Israelites, but our hope in God and our longing expectation are similar to theirs. As we await the appearance of Jesus, we may affirm with the psalmist, “Surely his salvation is at hand” (v. 9).
Charles Swadley
Psalm 85: 1—2, 8—13
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Psalm 85: 1—2, 8—13
1 You, Lord, showed favor to your land;
you restored the fortunes of Jacob.
2 You forgave the iniquity of your people
and covered all their sins.
8 I will listen to what God the Lord says;
he promises peace to his people, his faithful servants—
but let them not turn to folly.
9 Surely his salvation is near those who fear him,
that his glory may dwell in our land.
10 Love and faithfulness meet together;
righteousness and peace kiss each other.
11 Faithfulness springs forth from the earth,
and righteousness looks down from heaven.
12 The Lord will indeed give what is good,
and our land will yield its harvest.
13 Righteousness goes before him
and prepares the way for his steps.
December 6
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December 6
In reading Psalm 79, I was reminded of the dichotomy that persists throughout the holiday season. We have the hope that is the birth of Christ, but we understand this event is not in isolation. This year we exist knowing that though the lights have been lit and the trees have been decked in celebration, many are persecuted for their faith and wars are raging for political and ideological vendettas. In moments vying for priority, where will we focus our attention?
Within this Psalm, the verses lament the sins of the church as an institution and recognize a need for action. It speaks of infiltration of the church and how this negatively influenced actions of the church and the congregation. One commentary I read on the topic referred to the church as being under attack. In 21st century America, I feel that I have heard similar rhetoric and wonder if we have weaponized our community to explain a new form of infiltration. If we aren’t similar, then someone is wrong. Our community, and God"s community, is made up of those that follow Christian principles and those that do not. The attack of our relationships with one another is driving wedges instead of forging bonds. We cannot neglect part of God"s creation if we are to move forward with an expectation of change.
Psalm 79 ends with a plea for mercy and a hopeful reminder that God will restore us. Returning to the idea of priorities, I feel that this is how we can choose to move forward. We must focus our attentions on the promise of Christ that we are especially reminded of during Advent. This does not mean an apathetic approach to our community in crisis, but a willingness to stand alongside one another in pursuit of hope.
Moving through Advent, Psalm 79 is a reminder to look for fulfillment in the promise of Christ and pray for divine intervention in our broken world. May we work to create a community that is ready for this promise.
Meredith Bailey
December 5
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December 5
I know I am not the only one who has had a lot of things unexpectedly happen this year. The April tornado devastated our community and, unless you have superpowers, it probably caught you off guard. I have faced a lot of different emotions when continuing to face the restoration process. Out of all the towns in Oklahoma, it had to hit us.
When reading Psalm 79, I am immediately brought back to the night/early morning after the tornado. The writer of Psalm 79 describes the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonian army that was made up of several countries that were also destroyed and conquered. We get a pretty clear picture of the chaos. In verse 79 the author asks, “How long, Lord? Will you be angry forever?” I have had the thought, did the tornado happen because of something we did? Did we make God angry or something, because it feels like a punishment. I have no idea why the tornado happened. I remember it, being 12:00 a.m. in the morning of April 20th and crying on my bed, because it felt like my entire world had just crumbled. It felt like everything I built up for my high school senior year was just destroyed.
The end of Psalm 79 can serve as a reminder that we are still called to praise God in the midst of destruction, like the author did when Jerusalem was conquered. God is still good, and he is still watching over us.
Clara Timmons
December 4
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December 4
Joplin...Christmas Eve Day, 1959...cold and blustery.
Jimmy said his “Byes” to fellow lunch volunteers at the soup kitchen. They had served haggard, empty-eyed men and women.
Buttoning his coat, Jimmy headed to his new F-100. He slid in and started the engine.
A woman stood at the passenger"s door. She motioned for Jimmy to let her in. He stretched himself across the seat to the door lock and lifted it. The woman appeared to have stepped out of some backwoods.
Stunned, Jimmy asked, “Ma'am, can I take you some place?”
With a grunt and a pointed index finger, she motioned north. One block north on Main, they came to a stop sign.
“Which way, ma'am?” Jimmy asked politely.
She motioned left. Jimmy turned left, went another block, came to another stop sign.
“Okay...ma'am...which way?”
She motioned left again. They came to another stop sign. Left again. They came back to Main, a block away from the soup kitchen.
Jimmy turned onto Main, pulled over, stopped, and said kindly but disingenuously, “Ma"am...I...I need to be someplace...right up here is the soup kitchen...I'll drop you of back there.”
Timidly, she asked, "Could you take me to a liquor store?"
Lowering his head, Jimmy answered, "No ma'am."
Jimmy stopped at the soup kitchen. The woman turned, sighed, said softly, “Love you,” and got out.
"Gosh," well-versed but naive Jimmy thought. "Lord. let her sighing come before You... and purge away my sin.”
Larry Inman
Psalm 79
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Psalm 79
O God, the nations have invaded your inheritance;
they have defiled your holy temple, they have reduced Jerusalem to rubble.They have left the dead bodies of your servants as food for the birds of the sky,
the flesh of your own people for the animals of the wild.They have poured out blood like water
all around Jerusalem, and there is no one to bury the dead.We are objects of contempt to our neighbors, of scorn and derision to those around us.
How long, Lord? Will you be angry forever? How long will your jealousy burn like fire?
Pour out your wrath on the nations
that do not acknowledge you, on the kingdom that do not call on your name;for they have devoured Jacob and devastated his homeland.
Do not hold against us the sins of past generations;
may your mercy come quickly to meet us,
for we are in desperate need.Help us, God our Savior, for the glory of your name; deliver us and forgive our sins
for your name’s sake.Why should the nations say, “Where is their God? Before our eyes, make known among the
nations that you avenge the outpoured blood of your servants.May the groans of the prisoners come before you; with your strong arm preserve those
condemned to die.Pay back into the laps of our neighbors seven times the contempt they have hurled at you,
Lord.Then we your people, the sheep of your pasture, will praise you forever;
from generation to generation we will proclaim your praise.
December 3 - The First Sunday of Advent
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December 3
The First Sunday of Advent
The Divine Image
William Blake
To Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love
All pray in their distress;
And to these virtues of delight
Return their thankfulness.
For Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love
Is God, our father dear,
And Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love
Is Man, his child and care.
For Mercy has a human heart,
Pity a human face,
And Love, the human form divine,
And Peace, the human dress.
Then every man, of every clime,
That prays in his distress,
Prays to the human form divine,
Love, Mercy, Pity, Peace.
And all must love the human form,
In heathen, Turk, or Jew;
Where Mercy, Love, and Pity dwell
There God is dwelling too.